Friday’s Surveillance Honor Roll

Pictured (Left to Right): Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Chairman Jim Jordan, Ranking Member Jerry Nadler, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, and Rep. Warren Davidson, .

​That a warrant requirement for Section 702 came within one vote of passing the House on Friday is a testament to the strong advocacy of its sponsors – Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Chairman Jim Jordan, Ranking Member Jerry Nadler, Rep. Warren Davidson, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren.
 
PPSA is also grateful to Rep. Chip Roy, who sponsored an amendment that requires the FBI to give Congress a quarterly report on the number of U.S. person queries conducted. This accountability measure, coupled with the shortening of the reauthorization of Section 702 from five years to two years, will greatly strengthen oversight of the FBI.
 
Further good news came from the passage of an amendment offered by Rep. Ben Cline, Rep. Jackson Lee, Rep. Andy Biggs, and Rep. Darrell Issa.  The House voted to permanently ban the intelligence practice of “abouts” collection in which Americans were targeted for merely being mentioned in a communication. Abuse of “abouts” collection prompted the FISA Court to publicly excoriate the National Security Agency for an “institutional lack of candor” about a “very serious Fourth Amendment issue.” Now the intelligence community will not be able to revive that measure.
 
Thanks to this bipartisan honor roll of surveillance reform champions, Congressional oversight will be strengthened, and the threat of “abouts” collection is history.